Heterogeneous treatment effects of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors on risk of dementia in people with type 2 diabetes: A population-based cohort study

INTRODUCTION: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors exhibit potential benefits in reducing dementia risk, yet the optimal beneficiary subgroups remain uncertain. METHODS: Individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) initiating either SGLT2 inhibitor or sulfonylurea were identified from OneFlorida+ Clinical Research Network (2016-2022). A doubly robust learning was deployed to estimate risk difference (RD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of all-cause dementia. RESULTS: Among 35,458 individuals with T2D, 1.8% in the SGLT2 inhibitor group and 4.7% in the sulfonylurea group developed all-cause dementia over a 3.2-year follow-up, yielding a lower risk for SGLT2 inhibitors (RD, -2.5%; 95% CI, -3.0% to -2.1%). Hispanic ethnicity and chronic kidney disease were identified as the two important variables to define four subgroups in which RD ranged from -4.3% (-5.5 to -3.2) to -0.9% (-1.9 to 0.2). DISCUSSION: Compared to sulfonylureas, SGLT2 inhibitors were associated with a reduced risk of all-cause dementia, but the association varied among different subgroups.